Martell Cordon Bleu Cognac Review

Martell is a cognac house founded in 1715 by Jean Martell. Martell is located in Cognac, France on the Charente River.

Martell’s eaux-de-vie are aged in french oak from trees of the Tronçais style, with a fine grain that creates cognacs with lighter tannins and a delicate woody flavor. Martell also uses grapes for its eaux-de-vie from the exclusive and most prestigious Cognac appelations of Borderies, Petit Champagne and Grande Champagne.

Martell Cordon Bleu

Martell Cordon Bleu was first produced in 1912 by Edouard Martell and is considered the House of Martell’s flagship brand. It is sold without designation.

The Review

We tasted Martell Cordon Bleu neat in a cognac snifter. Here is our review.

Price

Martell Cordon Blue is priced at higher than any of the big four V.S.O.P offerings (Hennessy,Rémy Martin, Martell and Courvoisier) and higher than Remy Martin’s Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal, but less expensive than any of the big four X.O. offerings. It is closest in price to the X.O. cognacs.

Alcohol: 40% (80 proof)

Age:Martell V.S. is crafted from about 150 eaux-de-vie, predominately from the Borderies (50%+) Grande and Petite Champagne growing crus. A small amount of Fins Bois eaux-de-vie is also added. It is aged ten to twenty-five years in French Tronçais oak barrels. Cordon Bleu would qualify for an X.O. designation due to the age of its eaux-de-vie. Martell prefers to continue to market this cognac as “Cordon Bleu”, while marketing another well aged cognac as Martell X.O.

The Bottle/Label

Martell Cordon Bleu in packaged in a Bordeaux style wine bottle with a medallion at the base of the neck featuring the 1715 family logo of Louis XIV and the words “Cognac Martell” embossed on it. The bottle neck also has a blue cloth with gold trim vertical label that reads “Cordon Bleu”. The bottom of the bottle has embossed script that reads “A Martell”. Cordon Blue comes in a blue box with the bottle in grey plastic Martell logo wrapping.

The Color

Medium dark golden amber.

The Nose (Nez)

Orange, oak and cinnamon.

Mouth (En Bouche)

Mixed fruit, pear, some citrus, light spice and leather

Finish

Medium length, lingering prune, cinnamon and white spice.

Overall

Martell Cordon Bleu has a complex and delicate palate. It is not bold like Grand Champagne X.O. cognacs owing in part to the predominance of Borderies eaux-de-vie and the Tronçais barrel aging that results in lower tannins. We did not try Cordon Bleu in any cocktails as we suspect its lower profile would be lost in the mix. This Cognac is an ideal choice for sipping and food pairing.

Martell’s cocktail web page does not recommend Cordon Bleu as a mixer in any of the cocktails it features. We suspect that if one were to experiment mixing Cordon Bleu might work best with cognac cocktails like the Sazerac or Sidecar.

Awards:

Double Gold Medal 2005 San Francisco World Spirits Competition
Silver Medal 2009 San Francisco World Spirits Competition
Gold Medal 2011 San Francisco World Spirits Competition
Double Gold Medal 2012 San Francisco World Spirits Competition
Silver Medal in the XO category 2013 International Wine & Spirit Competition
Double Gold Medal 2016 San Francisco World Spirits Competition

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Cordon Bleu, this video was released at the end of 2011. The video notes that Cordon Bleu was a gift to President Kennedy in 1963 and was served on the maiden voyage of the Queen Mary in 1936.

For information on Martell tours and to book a visit http://www.martell.com/en-us/visit-us